IRON BOSS PREVIEWS PORT VALE TRIP

United manager Graham Alexander says he feels his squad is well prepared to face Port Vale this Saturday, despite the Valiants’ vast overhaul of players over the summer.

There has been an influx of new arrivals at Vale Park since new boss Bruno Ribeiro took charge, but Alexander is confident of carrying on the superb start to the new campaign.

Speaking to The Iron PlayerHD, Alexander explained: “It’s early days in the tenure of the manager, and they’ve brought in a few players. They’ve probably changed the playing style a little bit as well.

“Even if the players have stayed the same, if a new manager has got a different style of play and different philosophies, things change anyway.

"We will make sure we implement our game plan - the players are comfortable playing that way, and it suits their best qualities."

The Scunthorpe boss wants to take the game to Port Vale, and he believes the best way to do that is to focus on what his side can influence, rather than trying to second guess how the opposition will set up.

It’s a formula which has reaped rewards for United in the opening four games of the league season so far, and Alexander doesn’t see any reason to tinker with a winning formula.

He said: “We know roughly what we’ll be up against on Saturday, but we want to prepare our boys to take our game, implement that and our tactics on them, as well as being positive with what we do.

“It’s important we do that, because we’ve done it in every game so far. I’ve felt it’s paid dividends.

"I feel over the course of the season it always will, if you concentrate on what you do first."

Alexander also analysed Tuesday’s second round EFL Cup exit to Bristol City, saying it was a good examination for the whole squad.

The Iron took the Championship side all the way to extra time - a performance Alexander believed deserved a great deal of credit.

“It was a really good test for us, against an excellent team,” he stated.

“Like I said on Tuesday, I thought our players did exceptionally well and made it a really competitive game, taking it right to the wire.

“The effort the lads put in was superb, but we just have to make sure we reset everything for the league programme, because it’ll be a different game, and it’ll be two teams looking for the three points."

See much more from Graham Alexander, Luke Daniels and Conor Townsend on the Iron PlayerHD.